The transformation of Pat Toomey

When Republican leader Mitch McConnell tapped Sen. Pat Toomey for a seat on the deficit supercommittee, it was largely seen as a symbolic nod to the tea party, which swept him into office just a year ago.

But a funny thing happened when the seemingly intransigent tea party darling walked into the most powerful negotiating room in Washington: Toomey turned into a key compromiser.

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For a freshman backbencher, the supercommittee has become a star-making platform to prove himself not just inside the Senate but in the Republican Party as a whole — and to voters in Democratic-leaning Pennsylvania who elected him by a small margin last year.

Outside the supercommittee room, the $1.5 trillion GOP deficit plan authored by Toomey — the former head of the powerful anti-tax group Club for Growth — has provided political cover for Republicans mulling over tax hikes typically abhorrent to their base.

“If we can have the opportunity to generate the tremendous economic growth that has come from the tax reform, with simplifying the code, and avoid the biggest tax increase in American history, … I think that’s worth paying the price,” Toomey told POLITICO. “If I were king, I wouldn’t do it this way; I’d do it differently. But I’m not king.”

Toomey’s 10-year plan would raise roughly $500 billion in new revenue, half of which would come from tax increases by closing some loopholes and capping deductions. But those increases would be part of broader tax reform, including making permanent the Bush-era tax cuts, even for high-income earners.

Democrats have signaled they’re open to some elements of the plan but want Republicans to scrap the tax-cut extension and scale back the proposed $750 billion in cuts to Medicare and Social Security.

“Republicans need to seem like they’re serious about doing revenues,” said a top Democratic aide familiar with the deficit negotiations. “If they are serious, it would help to have someone like Sen. Toomey be the guy to jump off the cliff.”

That’s not to say Toomey is being hailed as a hero in his conservative corner — some House Republicans have been downright critical, though his Senate colleagues are holding their fire.

“I’m not going to say I’m against any plan until I’ve seen said plan in its entirety, but I’m against tax increases,” said fellow freshman Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a close Toomey ally and co-founder of the Senate Tea Party Caucus.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) also hasn’t taken a position but said the plan targets what she views as unfair “tax earmarks” that exist only because of special-interest lobbyists.

“There are loopholes that don’t help economic growth,” she told POLITICO.